#skill: type focus

[imasallstars]

SR/SR+ 【Fin[e] ~Utsukushiki Shuuen~】Shiki Ichinose

FOCUS STAT 　　　 6174 VISUAL TOTAL APPEAL 　　　 13 441 Skill:「Innocent Setback」 　　　(Cute Focus) When only CUTE-type idols are in your unit, for every 9 seconds, there is a 40~60% chance that PERFECT notes will receive a 14% SCORE BONUS, and you will gain an extra 11% COMBO BONUS for 4~6 seconds Center Skill:「Cute Princess」 　　　When only CUTE-type idols are in your unit, all cards gain a 35% boost in their appeal.

※ this card is available through ranking in the Top 200000 in the Fin[e] ~Utsukushiki Shuuen~ Token event. You are able to get multiple copies of this card, by ranking in higher tiers of the event

※ you are also able to obtain this card by reaching 10k, 20k, 30k, and 40k points in the Fin[e] ~Utsukushiki Shuuen~ Token event.

[rigelmejo]

Something that always annoys me is the idea only 1 language learning method works. Which is not true. While it may be possible that, for a particular individual, only a few out of many study methods may work well enough for That Individual to make progress and stay motivated... that doesn't mean all the other study methods won't work for anyone else out there, or that those few methods will work for every other given person.

Obviously if you've been studying a while, then you already figured out what kinds of things work for you and don't. If you're a beginner, just wading into studying?

I would suggest you simply look for study methods that: 1. Teach you new things regularly, 2. Review and practice things you've learned, 3. Include studying things you need for your particular goals (for example if your goal is to read X book then the study materials at some point should involve reading practice and some words the book contains, if your goal is to talk about Y then the study materials should include some information about pronunciation and words you'll need to be able to say).

As you can imagine, a TON of study materials will meet these requirements. And you can study a given skill in a LOT of ways.

(Reading is my focus lol so just for reading, a beginner might: do vocabulary study with lists or conversations with native speakers or watching shows and looking words up or listening to dialogues with a transcript like in a textbook or graded readers or a picture book with word labels in the target language or a video game with labelled objects in target language, all of those things as long as your vocabulary is improving or reading practice is happening would help you make progress). So to improve reading skill as a beginner: you could study with a textbook, a podcast with transcript, a classroom or tutor with words written down in target language (like TPRS), a video game, a TV show and a translate app on your phone, a friend you talk with (who either writes words down or you look up words you hear with a translate app), a friend you text with, srs flashcards like anki (provided there's text) etc. As long as there's new words, and/or you're practicing reading, the study method may work. If it works will come down to if you can stay motivated doing it regularly, and make sure you regularly learn some new things and review/practice things you've already studied.

So consider those things when you see people selling a study method as a product (especially when it's costing you money). Consider if it teaches you NEW things, and are those new things related to your goals, and how MUCH new stuff will it teach you before you finish it? Consider if it provides review or practice, or if you can use it's materials to review on your own making up your own method, or if you'll need to do separate review/practice.

So examples:

LingQ. Can it teach you many new words? Yes, thousands, since you can import any texts you want when you get done with their provided material (I have no idea how much their beginner material covers though in terms of words... I would hope 1000-3000 words but that can be researched). Is your goal reading? It's suited to reading, so you will practice and review often with it. Cost? I think it was $12 a month when I last had it, and the price may have increased. Is it worth it? Depends on a learner's needs. I found it was wasting my money, so I chose to use free tools like Pleco and Readibu apps - since those apps are suited for Chinese learners and have better translations, Pleco has better paid graded reader material if I was going to spend money, and both Pleco and Readibu let me import texts so I can learn thousands of new words just like LingQ but free. Now that I'm not a beginner, I often use Microsoft Edge to read chinese... since I can still click-translate words easily (all my web browsers have that tool free), and Edge's TTS voice is helpful for pronunciation and sounds quite good. I read webnovels online so Edge works well. But it's translations aren't as good as Pleco or Readibu, so if I still needed translations more I would use them. So... is LingQ a good study method? Its certainly a study method marketed to buy. Well... the method is suited to improving reading skill, at least. It costs money, which is a negative, but it does offer a lot. However: everything it does regarding reading can be done free with other apps or sites or web browsers on their own. So if paying money motivates you to read... sure. LingQ does have a few word tracking features a learner may find worth the money, keeping in mind the actual read-to-learn method can be done free without lingq. (Also... while LingQ is a valid option for improving reading, if the learners goal is speaking then it would be important to think of what study activities the learner will do OUTSIDE of LingQ to improve speaking... because I've seen how LingQ is marketed as "how to learn a language" but it's only focused on some skills. It has vocabulary and grammar in some sense, since you'll read a lot and encounter new words and structures. But it doesnt have speaking or writing practice at least last time I was on it. Those activities would need to be worked on, on your own).

You can do that kind of cost/benefit contemplating with any study method material you see being sold. Amother example: there's a beginner Mandarin course called Mandarin Blueprint. It teaches like 800 words. Thats all. It may be worthwhile for a beginner... who still needs to learn 800 common words. But if you already know a few hundred words, the benefit of the course is less, you'll need to find a new material to teach you more new stuff soon. And the price was like a few hundred for the course... which for me personally was too much to spend, when I had already learned 800 hanzi from a book that cost me 12 dollars and 2000 words from a free user made memrise deck. The course claimed to get a person speaking, competent, but anyone not a beginner would say speaking basically with 800 words is nowhere near the level of working in Chinese or just doing a lot of daily life stuff, or reading/listening to media. (Although for the motivated beginner if you're learning 800 words on your own like I was, its definitely close to the point of jumping to learn more words and start reading kids and teenager books, and watching easier shows if you're willing to look new words up). So to me... Mandarin Blueprint felt like overselling some basic beginner materials. (Again when I know several other things that teach beginner stuff either more in depth so HSK test prep classes, and college courses, or that teach beginner stuff to the same depth as Mandarin Blueprint but free).

Some study materials aren't going to act like they teach everything. I've seen chinese courses just for learning to speak tones better and general pronunciation - probably worthwhile if your goal is to improve speaking and a teacher could help improve the issues your having. But a learner needs to be aware for that course that they'll need to study vocabulary on their own, its JUST a pronunciation improvement course.

[the-crooked-library]

"it reads like fanfic" doesn't mean "self-indulgent plot" or "self-insert character" or "dialogue heavy." those things have always existed and so has transformative fiction

"it reads like fanfic" describes specific stylistic choices and it is very difficult to describe which ones until you go from writing fic to writing original fiction. it's not necessarily an insult or a compliment, it's an observable writing style that is broadly popular in fanfiction as a genre, rather than original fiction, and it fully depends on the author if they want to lean into this characteristic or distance their work from it, the same way that writing a sci-fi story in the voice of an Austen novel would be a stylistic choice

[icewindandboringhorror]

finally finished all of one character's entire quests/optional dialogue/questions/etc.... 100,000 words... .... aughhh

[muselexum]

akane breaking generational curses by not learning swordsmanship

[sol-flo]

weezing/arbok stall deck is a beautiful name for a baby girl

[starscelly]

if anyone has any good articles on the impact of junior hockey* on young players education (and social emotional development).... please pass them my way im on my knees begging

*it doesnt necessarily have to be hockey like. at all. but whenever they're placed in kind of this higher bracket of being "elite", potentially have to move to progress their presumed professional career from a young age, etc etc. that similar vibe.

[blujayonthewing]

[holding myself by the scruff of the neck not to pick up the tab I left open and spend the whole day reading about the gnome pantheon when I'm playing melliwyk today, whose campaign setting doesn't have them]

[sleepy-bunbun-ace]

i think each of the unit leaders should have their own focus each book until book 6 where from then on it's an all leaders focus. the other leaders are obviously there too but there's more of a focus on a singular leader while also dealing with the actual main plot.

here's how i'm doing it:

book 1 - tsukasa

book 2 - kanade

book 3 - kohane

book 4 - ichika

book 5 - minori

SEKAI might be involved. i mean, the loids are already there in animal form. why not involve SEKAI as well?

[cognitomeprogram]

"Discover the wonders of neuroplasticity of the brain with https://cognitomeprogram.me. Learn how it can help improve your cognitive skills and intelligence quotient. Explore the website to know more."https://cognitomeprogram.me

[amplexadversary]

Man. I watched the critmas special today and I *am* worried that I'm just not going to like watching actual play Daggerheart.

Might be the autism talking but I feel like they went in a direction that's even more "rules-light" than 5e, and I feel like that's pretty close to my lower limit for how much structure makes sense for an actual game.

I was hoping DH would wind up closer to a Pathfinder type of deal, or, since they did want a more modular system, Rogue Trader-ish level of complexity, since they DID come from Pathfinder into CR1.

I feel like I'm definitely going to miss seeing a lot of the strategizing over specific ranges and how long things last and the like. Not to mention I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to read the rulebook to keep up with what's going on unless they release a free PDF version (or someone reliable pirates it; I don't buy games my own group has a <0% chance of playing and my friends are very much d100 system lovers)

[imasallstars]

SR/SR+ 【D-ark L-ily's Grin】Karen Hojo

FOCUS STAT 　　　 6187 VISUAL at max Level, Max Bond, 0 Potential TOTAL APPEAL 　　　 13 439 Skill:「The Lilies Play A Sweet Melody」 　　　(Cool Focus) When only COOL-type idols are in your unit, for every 6 seconds, there is a 35~52.5% chance that PERFECT notes will receive a 14% SCORE BONUS, and you will gain an extra 11% COMBO BONUS for 3~4.5 seconds Center Skill:「Cool Princess」 　　　When only COOL-type idols are in your unit, all cards gain a 35% boost in their appeal.

※ this card is available through ranking in the Top 200000 in the D-ark L-ily's Grin LIVE GROOVE event. You are able to get multiple copies of this card, by ranking in higher tiers of the event

※ you are also able to obtain this card by reaching 10k, 20k, 30k, and 40k points in the D-ark L-ily's Grin LIVE GROOVE event.

※ the card's Japanese skill name "甘美に奏でる百合" features the name of the other half of the unit, 奏で (Kanade)

[overthinkinglotr]

It's ironic how a major part of Lord of the Rings is that storytellers always overlook hobbits in their legends because their simple lives are "less important" than the lives of Great Royals & Grand Warriors--- since that's ultimately been reflected in the current state of the Tolkien franchise itself! After the LOTR films, big-budget Tolkien franchise installments (and copycats) overwhelmingly focus on their Aragorn analogues, with hobbit-like characters shoved to the sidelines. The Lord of the Rings films may be flawed, but they succeeded because they had a strong central story-- the relationship between Frodo and Sam, and the fairytale-themes about small overlooked people who save the day while the villains are distracted by Great Heroes from Noble Bloodlines, are what give the story the deep lasting emotional impact that it has. But the franchise(tm) quickly decided that the royal warrior elves/men were the far more exciting marketable characters, and their battle skills could allow for more flashy spectacle. The Hobbit films gradually focused more heavily on the warrior characters, with Bilbo being a glorified extra by the last movie; The Amazon LOTR show focuses on a noble warrior elf of royal blood as its main character and political intrigue among the royalty of different kingdoms as its main plot; the recent animated film focuses on a noble hero of royal blood involved in epic battles. I've mentioned before that it's fascinating how all the new "Tolkien franchise" installments (as well as media inspired by LOTR) continue to center their stories on the Aragorn archetype-- a Destined Noble Hero/Warrior from a Royal Bloodline etc etc. The entire premise of Lord of the Rings is that Aragorn represents the hero of a typical generic fantasy epic, while the ordinary Hobbits are the heroes of this one. Aragorn is interesting not in spite of the fact that he is a side character, but because of it. If he were the central character of the story, Lord of the Rings would be very bland and generic. "Let's do a new version of Lord of the Rings but focus on powerful grand royal hero characters instead" is a lot like saying "let's do a retelling of Wicked from Dorothy's point of view." It's like, "congrats! you've successfully reinvented the exact type of story the original writer was commenting on and subverting." XD

[lylahammar]

Artistic "advice" that follows this format of "do this ✅ don't do this ❌" has ALWAYS been a massive pet peeve of mine, and this is a huge one of many reasons. There is no "right" way to do art, I don't care what your personal feelings are about it. You can have stylistic preferences, but that's subjective personal taste, there are no rules. A lot of the time, this kind of advice comes off very counterintuitive and anti-stylization.

But in the case of what OP's talking about, it's an even larger issue. The spectrum of body types on the planet is MASSIVE and more diverse than any single artist can imagine. Literally any physical human trait that you can claim is "incorrect" in art is present in someone, often a lot of people, in the world. Stop telling people they're wrong for drawing in a certain way. It's entirely unhelpful. It's far more productive to give advice on how to find reference material and use it to help you represent specific traits that you have in mind.

you know those posts that are like

INCORRECT way to draw a fat body ❌

CORRECT way to draw a fat body ✅

I saw someone use an example of a body that had a round potbelly and slimmer limbs for the INCORRECT version, saying it looked bloated or pregnant… when it literally looked exactly like my body.

yes it’s important to know the dynamics of body fat on characters, how it hangs, how it folds, etc. because a lot of people draw fat characters as Skinny Lite™️ and that’s a representation issue.

but as long as a character is big and round?? that’s a fat person! fat people look like that too!

[jinglyhigh-heels]

I feels it’s quite indicative that I got bored taking an ADHD test, couldn’t focus on what it was asking, and just quit without finishing it.

[swampjawn]

Time to talk an unnecessary amount about floors!

Episode 6 of Dungeon Meshi was produced in collaboration with a smaller studio, Enishiya - and it went way harder than I expected, for being made up of two relatively simple and self contained stories focusing on one character each.

And you can really see how those extra resources meant the animators could give full focus to both halves of the episode. Let's take a look at one piece that stole the show.

The first half was handled primarily by episode director/storyboard artist Keita Nagahara and co-animation director Hirotoshi (or Hiroaki? [1]) Arai. It's actually kinda insane how much of this section can be attributed to these two.

But the real star of the show is the second half, Chilchuck vs the mimic, led by co-animation director Toya Ooshima in his first animation director role for TV anime!

And the biggest aspect that knocked my dang boots off was something that's very consistent with Ooshima's style: background animation!

By animating the backgrounds rather than using painted still images, Ooshima and the team of other similarly skilled animators are able to create these beautiful dynamic camera movements that wouldn't be possible otherwise. Like these cuts by Takeshi Maenami where the camera becomes an expressive part of the scene, zipping forward and backward, and tilting to emphasize the speed of this murderous hermit crab. (Maenami's style is also very recognizable here - snappy timing and quick camera movements)

Or this cut by the incredible Kaito Tomioka which cleverly combines a traditional background for the walls with a fully animated floor. The level of detail in these tiles is just completely insane, and used to great effect with this wide, diagonal angle, and the way the camera tentatively drifts forward before reversing direction, and the tiles blur out as it speeds up.

I don't think I'm the only one caught off guard by how much they full-assed this little side story, but it was a pleasant surprise!

I broke down the entire episode in this video here. A lot of research went into this one, and I think it's the best one of these videos I've made so far, so if you're at all interested in more of this type of analysis in video form, I would really appreciate it if you checked it out, or re-blogged this post! Thanks

[1] It's listed as Hirotoshi on Anime News Network, but Hiroaki on a key frame that Studio Trigger shared on Twitter, so I'm not sure which one is wrong.